Vasectomy in exchange for benefits: Indonesian governor's absurd suggestion

A regional governor in Indonesia has come under fire for suggesting that men who want to gain access to the government's welfare schemes should get a vasectomy. Experts are slamming West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi for trying to coerce poor men to get a procedure that they say violates Islamic teachings and punishing people for being poor.

Dedi recently pointed out that poor people have more children but are unable to fulfil their needs. He suggested that poor men should undergo sterilisation if they want access to the government’s social welfare programme, also known as bansos.

In a speech on April 28, Dedi said, "I don’t know why poor families generally have many children, while rich people have difficulty having children, even after paying two billion rupiah (US$121,000) for IVF."

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Recalling the time he saw a couple with 11 children, Dedi said that some of the kids were selling cakes on the streets. “Stop having children if you can’t provide for them well,” he said.

He stated that funds used to subsidise hospital births for women with little means should instead be redirected towards building "simplehouses".

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He then went on to say that poor families who want to benefit from government schemes for new electricity connections, food, scholarships or public housing should get a vasectomy. Men who go ahead with it will be given 500,000 rupiah (US$30) each.

Vasectomy suggestion slammed by experts and religious leaders

His statement quickly invited backlash from prominent quarters, including Cholil Nafis, head of the Indonesian Ulema Council, the country’s top Islamic scholars’ body. Islamic figures stated that sterilisation is against their religion.

“Islam forbids permanent sterilisation. What is permitted is regulating birth spacing. Our population growth is stable and even tends to be negative," Cholil wrote on social media.

"Poverty can be stopped by increasing employment opportunities, not stopping poor people from being born,” he added.

Others said it unfairly targets the poor and, in a was,y punishes them for not having money.

Meanwhile, Social Minister Saifullah Yusuf said this is not the solution to poverty. Social media users seemed to have a divided opinion, as some of them backed the idea while others gave it a thumbs down.

A user wrote, “Birth control as a population control tool, specifically for the poor, is eugenics and fascist to the extreme."